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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 2923110" data-attributes="member: 5203">WeddingHere's yet another piece of fiction written by one of the players, in this case Arrie's player.  You'll note that in this piece, the character is referred to as 'Ari' rather than 'Arrie'.  'Ari' is how the player of the actual character spells it, but when I first started writing I went with 'Arrie', and by the time I learned the correct spelling the habit was too ingrained to break.  And, she says she doesn't mind anyway.-------------------------------------------------Ari walked along with Aralda and Herion, the young elfmaid between the human and the older elf. Aralda had enough grace not to stumble, but her idea of walking in a straight line left much to be desired so their progress was slow. A trio of Aralda's hunting hounds, who had been waiting patiently for their mistress, had met them halfway and were now trailing behind them in an impromptu parade.The wedding celebration had devolved into aimless little knots of drinking and debauchery. Aralda had argued that she should be allowed to stay, but she had been vetoed by her older brother and threatened by her sister-in-law. It wasn't very dignified for an imperial princess to be picked up by another imperial princess, tossed over her shoulder like a sack of turnips and hauled away. They had settled on an escort and luckily few people were inebriated enough to try to interfere. Especially since the prince's twin archer bodyguards had been lurking around during the reception. They reached the house that they had rented for the duration of the festivities and Herion dismissed the archers with a wave of his hand."Please, enjoy what remains of the evening as you will. We will be staying in the rest of the evening."The twins gave the prince a pair of nearly identical nods and slipped back out the door. Herion urged his unsteady crew towards the stairs. Aralda said something that made Ari burst into giggles, which in turn sent Aralda into gales of helpless laughter. Herion shook his head."I cannot carry you both up the stairs. And even if I did, you would go up over my shoulder. Behave just a little bit longer." His voice was stern, but not totally humorless.Ari and Aralda stifled their laughter, managing to keep it down to only an occasional snicker as they ascended the stairs and navigated to the suite of rooms that Aralda had claimed for herself.There was a great deal of fuss as Herion tried to coax his younger sister into bed. Ari started laughing again, managing to steer the prince to the door as he sternly tried to lecture Aralda on the benefits of putting on her nightgown. "Herion, Let me give it a try, ok?"The elf gave her a skeptical frown. "You're just as bad-off as she is. In fact, I think you've had more to drink than her, you just hold it better."Ari grinned. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright. Her steps were a little unsteady. She flashed Herion a wink and straightened. The flush paled a little and her eyes gleamed with only mischief. "Maybe. But maybe I'm not as drunk as you think I am."Herion's left eyebrow twitched. "Then by all means, have your turn." Ari went to her sister-in-law, putting her arm around the young elf's shoulders and exchanging conspiratorial whispers. There was more giggling, but Aralda did disappear behind the dressing screen and come back out dressed in her nightgown. Aralda climbed into the bed and her hounds followed, laying on the blankets in front of and behind the elven princess, effectively tucking her into bed. Ari whispered one last comment that made Aralda blush a little. She waved goodnight to her brother and turned over, throwing and arm over one of her hounds. Ari weaved back to the door and closed it behind herself."Well? And what was that about? Are you pretending to be intoxicated or are you really intoxicated?" Herion looked her over. He could smell the sweetness of mead and a few other wines on her breath and he had seen her drinking with his sister, ostensibly to keep her out of trouble. But once again, out of sight of his sister, she seemed far from drunk.Ari grinned. "Well, either I'm drunk and very good at pretending to be sober or I'm sober and very good at pretending to be drunk. Hung-gai was at the reception with a little viper from our past. I stopped drinking when I saw them. I figured it would be easier to keep Aralda under a modicum of control if she didn't feel like I was being stuffy, so I pretended to match her drink for drink. Really, I managed to shuffle quite a few glasses around and only had enough to keep myself pleasantly warm and a little giggly."Herion gave a soft laugh of his own. "Actually, that's not a bad plan. I'm glad that you were looking out for her. I just hope that the presence of the xin-tai ambassador and my sister's state of drunkenness didn't spoil your enjoyment of your sister's wedding."Ari shook her head. "Autumn is happy. That's all that matters. I got to dance with a bevy of handsome males and no one needed their head broken."Herion gave her a half-bow. "Speaking of dancing, I believe that you still owe me a dance. You went slinking off the tiefling wizard instead of dancing with me."Ari blushed a little. "Well, however wretched and evil he may be, he is a good dancer and he knew the real dance that's done to the Bolero of Lambent Flame." Herion made a wry face. "I'm aware. As are half the guests. I'm quite sure your dancing is seared into the retinas of many of the men at the reception. You are not as wrigglesome and fey as your bard friend, not as exotic as your xin-tai friend and not the ethereal beauty of your sister. However, I do not doubt that there are quite a few men who will be dreaming of you and that dance this evening and for many nights hereafter."Ari gave a little shrug. "I didn't do anything wrong. No clothing came off and the dresses Autumn picked out are certainly modest. I'm sure that no more than a quarter of the men present even saw me dancing and those who did no doubt felt you glaring at them. I'm sorry if it made you angry. I didn't think about it before I agreed to dance with him. A fact that I'm sure gave him a little perverse pleasure." Ari gave a derisive little snort. "But in the end nothing really scandalous happened."Herion nodded. It was true that she had danced only in the way the dance was supposed to be executed. It was the dance itself that was provocative, most of it taking place with the partners touching only hands while their bodies were pressed provocatively close and yet not actually touching. The motions were graceful, like the twining of flame, and meant to evoke images of much more private activities. But Ari's dress was fairly modest and she had opted not to add a few of the most suggestive flourishes to her movements. Herion held out his hand to her and swirled her down the hall when she took it. They danced to the absence of music until Ari was spending half her time with her head resting on Herion's shoulder, yawning. The elf stopped dancing, putting his arms around her."You should go to bed now. You'll need to sleep."Ari gave a drowsy nod. "I should" She didn't try to move anything other than her head.Herion laughed. "You're not going to get anywhere nearer bed if you stand here with your head on my shoulder."Ari gave a shrug. "But its nice here. The blankets are going to be cold when I get to bed and if I stop moving the world is going to start spinning as punishment for me being up so late and drinking."Herion gave a slight nod and put his hands on her waist, steadying her as he took a step back. Ari looked up, mildly upset to have her resting spot taken away. Without further preamble, Herion picked her up and started down the hall to her rooms. Their similar height made the going a little awkward at first, but Herion was very fit and had years of physical as well as magical training. For her part, Ari put her arms around his neck and did her best not to giggle. She hadn't been carried by anyone since she was a little girl and even then she had insisted from a few months after she began to walk that she could get anywhere on her own two feet, thank you. The novelty of being an adult and uninjured and being held thus made her oddly weak in the knees. She shook it off as silliness and let the moment flow as it would.The door wasn't hard to manage, even with Herion's hands full. A softly-spoken word released a small spell that instantly opened the door and popped it open about an inch. He nudged it with his toe and it swung further. He carried Ari all the way to the edge of her bed and set her down on the edge. She smiled at him. "Thank you for the lift. I might just sleep in my clothes rather than try to get to the dressing screen and back." She stifled a yawn behind her fist and eyed the pillows thoughtfully.Herion shook his head. "That can't be comfortable. I'll help you." He knelt down and removed her slippers, noting that rather than laugh when he touched her feet like most women, she simply sighed and closed her eyes in pleasure. He experimented a little. "You're not ticklish? How is that possible, I thought that all women turned into little girls if you touched their feet."Ari shook her head. "Never been ticklish. Feels good when you do that though." Herion grinned and took off his shoes, climbing up on the bed behind her to work on the fastenings of her dress.Ari started to remove her bracelet and got "tsked" into stillness. "Don't worry about it. I'll help you with it in a minute. Whoever tied this knot should be hung by it though." With a few gestures, he summoned a bevy of magical servants. Still sitting behind her, he directed the servants with his will and helped get Ari to her feet as she was disrobed. He contemplated having one fetch her nightgown, but Ari drooped against his shoulder. He shook his head. "Jewelry off and then I'm putting you to bed. Can you stay awake that long?"Ari gave a drowsy little nod and only swayed a little on her feet as Herion helped her remove her necklace, bracelet and ring. The invisible servants bore the jewelry away and put it back into its cases. Ari was nowhere near as difficult to get into the bed and beneath the blankets as Aralda had been. On the other hand, Herion found it difficult for other reasons to tuck her in. He chastely tucked the blankets up under her chin, relieved that the temptation of her slip-clad form was now out of sight.Ari reached out and caught his hand. She blushed a little as she spoke. "I was wondering if you'd indulge me a little?"Herion gave the barest hint of a nod. "Ask."She sat up and looked at a point somewhere on his shoulder shyly. "I'm not up for anything... athletic or anything, but I was wondering if you might stay a little bit with me?""Herion thought a moment. Due mainly to circumstance and in small part to shyness on both their parts, he continued to wait to enjoy certain aspects of their marriage. Thus his reluctance to simply tuck Ari into bed when spending the evening with her gave him the urge to carry her to his bed and keep her awake a few more hours. Obviously the internal argument took longer than he realized because Ari let go of his hand."No. Never mind. I realize that's not a very fair request. Thank you for taking care of me and thank you for dancing with me. I had a wonderful evening." Herion shook his head and took off his jacket and belt, folding them neatly and climbing onto the bed next to Ari."No. Its not unfair. You ask because it will make you happy and I say yes because it will make me happy. At least we can enjoy each other's company this way and if such moments lead to other things being more comfortable between us then it is time doubly well spent.""Ari helped him beneath the blankets and curled against his side once he was settled.Her voice was very soft when she spoke. ""Thank you. I don't have such strange dreams when you're beside me."Herion let the remark pass without questioning it, though he was slowly becoming more and more curious about the dreams that his wife had that seemed to disturb her so much. He idly caressed her hand where it lay over his heart as she drifted off to sleep. He watched and when she began to dream he spoke quietly to her of inconsequential things. It seemed to soothe her, drawing a few mumbled words from her. He picked out the phrase, "Just a little longer." Herion nodded. "I can be patient. I have waited more than three centuries for you. What are a few more days or months or years to me?"</blockquote>

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